Rad tech who reconstructed CT images of women for his 'sexual proclivities' banned from working in healthcare

A radiographer in the United Kingdom is now banned from conducting imaging exams on patients after he was caught inappropriately altering CT images of females to appease his “sexual proclivities.” 

Ian Hardman, 62, allegedly used post-processing software to revise the abdominopelvic CT scans of female patients to create new 3D images that enhanced the visualization of their undressed torsos and genitalia. These recons appeared to depict lifelike images of the naked female body.  

“The images were said to be unusually on ‘soft tissue’ settings which resulted in images of the lower torso being produced that incorporated enhanced visualization of all soft tissue structures, including female genitalia,” the Health and Care Professions Tribunal Service noted in a report.  

He is said to have done this while working alone over a span of just 33 minutes in December 2023. Reports indicate he made the lewd images using the CT exams of six women. 

These acts took place at Highfield Hospital in Rochdale, England. Hardman claimed he created the images “for educational purposes.” He told officials it was “extremely distressing” to have his integrity questioned after working as a radiographer for over 40 years and that if he wanted to view images that were sexual in nature, those were “just a few clicks away on the internet” and were “far superior.” 

When administrators were made aware of the images, they consulted with the radiographer’s colleagues and the hospital’s providers to determine if they could have been reconstructed to serve any sort of medical purpose. They were told there was no clinical reason to justify the creation of the images. 

Hardman has since been struck off of the official register and can no longer work in healthcare.